Ponyboy's First Love
by Stay-Gold-And-Save-Ferris
Summary: Ponyboy has a problem. Multiple problems really. Problems more commonly referred to as puberty, hormones ,and his first crush. Ponyboy has a crush on a fellow student that he knows he can never be with because this student happens to be Steve's little sister. This is a story about Ponyboy's first crush and the obstacles that come between them.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! This is our first fanfiction so it would really help if you wrote us some suggestions on how to improve. It would be greatly appreciated. We fell in love with the book after reading it at school and decided to write this. Anyways this is a story about Ponyboy's first crush and the obstacles that come between them. In this story Johnny and Dally are still alive because they're just too cool not to put in the story. This account is managed by two people and we will be switching off do the chapters so that's why the writing styles may change. This chapter was written by Tabitha (me). We hope you enjoy it! Remember to review! Thanks for reading!  
-Ginger and Tabitha  
Disclaimer- We (unfortunately) do not own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton does. We only own Aurora and our twists on the story line **

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**One week earlier...**

**STEVE'S POINT OF VIEW**

"Please," my kid sister begged "Please Steve."

"No Rory," I told her "The answer was no then and it's still no! How many times do I have to tell you?"

"Steve please it's almost my freshman year and I don't want to go into high school not knowing anybody." she replied in a very diplomatic way. This just made me mad.

"Then make some friends when you get there! That's what everyone else had to do!" I screamed at her

"No Steve we both know thats not how it works. Everyone else had little tight knit groups and they moved through junior high with them. I missed that stage." she told me. I knew she was right. I mean look at the gang and I. We had been best friends since I was just five years old. They were my second family.

"No Aurora," I spat at her "They are my friends. Mine. Not yours and besides it's not my fault you skipped junior high drama. It's not my fault you're too smart for your own good. It's not my fault you left." I instantly felt bad after snapping at her. It's true it wasn't my fault ,but it wasn't her's either. There is no one to blame. I can't blame her for being a genius. I can't blame the science institute for offering her an internship at their base in Oregon. I can't blame her for wanting to go. If it were me I would have done the same thing. I looked at her she was close to tears.

"Listen Rors I'm sor-" I started

She cut me off "Save it Steve. I need to go anyways. Got to take my freshman year placement test at the high school. Have fun with your friends." She grabbed her book bag and stormed out of the house slamming the door behind her. This was an ongoing thing with us. The arguments and debates. In the end it's always fine because I go take my anger out in a fight and then come home and apologize. It's sort of become a routine. Suddenly Aurora came back in with an annoyed look on her face.

"I need you to drive me there," she told me. I just chuckled under my breath and grabbed the car keys.

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**One week later...**

**PONYBOY'S POINT OF VIEW**

I did not want to wake up this morning. I love school ,but recently I have been feeling out of place. Don't get me wrong it's great being a sophomore at only 14 ,but lately I have gotten rather lonely. Two-Bit and Johnny go to school here too ,but aren't in my grade. For some reason Dally has been coming to school a lot more often this year than he used too which is weird. Knowing Dally he probably lost a bet or something ,but it is still really bizarre. Most kids probably don't want to hang out with me considering I am the youngest kid in my grade ,the only greaser in most of my classes ,and was involved in the killing of Bob. Oh course there is Cherry ,but even she has been rather distant lately. I'm not sure why ,but she'll probably tell me when she's ready. Ugh I don't know it must be a puberty thing. At least things at home are great. I should probably focus in class now before Mr. Synm calls me out.

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**AURORA'S POINT OF VIEW**

Today is my first day at my new high school. I am coming a week after school has been in session ,but hey I've been busy. You see for the past two years I have been away interning at a private scientific institute and research facility. It was a big surprise when my science teacher told me I was being chosen for this special opportunity mostly because I was only twelve at the time. I knew I was good in science and math ,but I didn't know that I was that good. There was a lot to consider of course ,but surprisingly my parents were very open to the idea. In a month my things were packed up and shipped away to Oregon. My parents had signed all the papers and the institute sent over my ticket. It was good they paid for everything because my family is pretty poor. When I left only three people were there to say goodbye: my mom, my dad and Steve my brother. When I was gone my parents visited whenever they could ,but never Steve. I knew that my brother and I didn't get on real well considering I've never even met the people he hangs with ,but it still hurt. Okay I'm almost at school! Wish me luck!

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**PONYBOY'S POINT OF VIEW**

Now it's lunch-the only time I can see any of friends. I sit down on the hood of Two-Bit's car where Cherry, Marcia, Johnny, and Dally are waiting.

"Where's Two-Bit?" I ask

"The teacher held him back to stay in for lunch because he wouldn't stop singing during class," giggled Marcia "It was real funny"

"I thought it was real annoying," Cherry states

"Two-Bit? Annoying? No never," Dally says sarcastically. We all snickered and ate the rest of our lunches in silence. It gave me a chance to think. There was supposed to be a new girl who would being joining today. Steve said it was his kid sister ,but we all think he was just trying to trick us. Steve didn't have a kid sister. If he did why would we have never heard of her before? Why wouldn't we have ever met her?

"Hey kid," someone said snapping me out of my trance. Dally was standing there waving his hand in front of my face.

I look up at him "What?"

"Lunch is over we're going inside are you coming inside or are you just gonna sit there with your head in the clouds?" Dally asks me while chuckling under his breath. My ears turn red as I sit up and follow them back to the school building. I look over and notice Dally rubbing small circles on Cherry's back and for some reason she didn't seem to mind. She actually seemed like she liked it. I looked over to see if the other two noticed what was happening. Apparently not. Marcia was talking a mile a minute explaining her last family reunion to Johnny who was looking a little freaked out by her ,but was too polite to say anything. Good ol' Johnny. I chuckle under my breath and walk to Advanced Placement Math. Halfway through the lesson someone walked in. It must be the new girl I thought.

"Sorry I'm late I was getting a tour of the school," she began "I have a note if you'd like to see it"

I didn't really pay attention to the teachers answer. Instead I looked over the new girl. It was hard to tell if she was a Soc or a Greaser. She had light brown curly hair and freckles all along her nose and cheeks. She was wearing a dress that was yellow and covered in multicolored polka dots. Her thin legs were clad with vibrant red tights that went into a pair of black All-Stars. She was wearing big black rimmed glasses that she would get made fun about Soc or not. I snapped back into reality when the teacher asked her to share a little bit about herself. Here was the moment of truth. Was she a Soc or a Greaser.

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**AURORA'S POINT OF VIEW**

"Would you care to tell the class a little bit about yourself?" The teacher asked me. I slowly nodded and turned to face the class.

"Hi" I began. The class just sat there and looked back up at me. Okay then.

"My name is Aurora Pierce Randell," I stated. One kid let out a small gasp and I stared at him giving and his ears turned red as he averted my gaze. "I recently moved back to Tulsa from Portland,Oregon where I was interning at a private science institute and research facility for two years."

When I was done speaking a girl raised her hand and asked "So how old are you 'cause you look pretty young"

"I'm fourteen," I told her

"So why are you in our grade?" another kid asked. I thought it would be pretty obvious with the internship and being in an advanced placement class. I guess it wasn't.

This is going to pin me as a total coindexter for the next three years in high school ,but I told them anyways ,"Well when I was in Portland I was being exposed to a lot of college level work so when I came back here to attend high school and I took the test for freshmen year I had got a really high score so they decided to pass me onto becoming a sophomore."

"So are you a Soc or a Greaser?" one boy chirped from the back of the classroom. Oh no. There it was. The dreaded question. I was a Greaser ,but I know that I don't really act or look your typical greaser girl. My mom says I'm eccentric and Steve says I'm just weird ,but I know he's secretly glad I'm nothing like them.

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**PONYBOY'S POINT OF VIEW**

When she announced that her last name was Randell I nearly fell off my chair. So it was true! Steve did have a sister! Either that or it was one strange coincidence. I mean she didn't even look too much like Steve. Sure they both had brown hair and brown eyes ,but hidden behind those chocolate eyes of hers there was something else. Something different. Something that wasn't in Steve's. What was it? Gratitude? Love? Humor? Creativity? Curiousity? Bravery? Integrity? Kindness? Citizenship? Fairness? Forgiveness? Modesty? No. Steve had all those things to a certain extent. What is it? Think. Think. Think. No idea ,but I know I definitely want to find out.

"Are you a Soc or a Greaser?" one kid calls out snapping me out of my trance. She's a Greaser and I know this because she is Steve's sister and Steve is a Greaser ,but I still lean forward like all the others awaiting her answer.

She ponders this for a slight second and then smirks. "What's a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," she quoted from Romeo and Juliet. Everyone sat there staring up at her dumbfounded. She just walked up to the only empty seat in class and sat down. The class was just sitting there looking at her ,but she brushed them off and got out her books from her book bag like nothing was the matter. Gosh this girl digs alright. Just as I began thinking about clapping for her Two-Bit ,Johnny ,and Dally run into the classroom skidding to a halt.

"Ponyboy!" Two-Bit called out "We need to go. Now."

"What? Why?" I asked them.

"It's Sodapop," Johnny told me with obvious worry in his voice. I was scared too. What was wrong with Soda?

"What?" I asked hoping everything was alright "What's happened to Sodapop?"

"Superman's just called the front office and wants us all back at the house right away. Says it's real important and Sodapop is kinda having a breakdown about it. That's all he said before he hung up." explained Dally

"We really need to hurry up." Johnny said "The umm...others are changin' in the bathroom cause they wanna come too." I knew by others he meant Cherry and Marcia. We've been spending a lot more time with them ever since Cherry was a spy for us ,but we always have to keep us being friends a secret because they're Socs and we're Greasers. Also whenever they come over they have to dress like "Greasy Girls" so people in our neighborhood will leave them alone.

"Okay," I said gathering my books and turning to the teacher "Is it alright if I go?"

"Yes it's fine just come in after school tomorrow so I can give you the make up work."

"Oh course Sir." I replied as I turned to leave the classroom

"Oh and Ponyboy," my teacher began

"Yes?" I asked a little anxious to get home and see Soda

"Stay out of trouble,"

"I'll try," I told him as I turned and ran out the door behind the others. We met the girls outside the school and we all practically dove into Two-Bit's car. The drive home was a very quiet one because we couldn't wait to get home and see what was wrong with Sodapop...

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**okay that's all for now! What's wrong with Soda? Why hasn't Steve told the guys about Aurora? Is she to be trusted? Will I ever stop asking stupid questions that no one will read? Find out next time... **


	2. Chapter 2:Gone to the Country

**Hey guys! Here is the second chapter of Ponyboy's First Love. I'm sorry it took so long, but Ginger and I got a little stuck. Ginger was originally going to write this whole chapter, but we had no idea of what to do so I just woke up this morning and cranked the story out making it up as I went along. Anyways I really loved reading your reviews and suggestions and we hope to add in some of your ideas because there were some ones we found rather interesting. We hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**-Tabitha**

**Disclaimer~Try as I might I will never own The Outsiders! :( I only own Aurora and my twists on the story line!**

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Two-Bit,of course, drives. Marcia and Cherry somehow end up in the car, too, but Johnny, Dally and I sprint home. It's warm today. It's fall, though, so it's not like there's snow. My head is still reeling from class. Wait, what class was I in again? I couldn't remember. The moment the girl quoted Romeo and Juliet, I was intrigued. She was smart. Not like the greaser-girls who smoked more than Dally did, or the rich soc-girls who cared about nothing more than homecoming and dresses and their boyfriends. She didn't believe in the whole greaser/soc thing. Neither did I! Okay, I guess I'm making that part up. I put grease in my hair, and lived in a rough area. I liked rumbles and beating socs. But it's nice to hear someone talk about us being the same, especially from a broad. Dally and Johnny arrive first.

"Pony didn't make it back first! It's a miracle!" Shouts Dally, leaping around joyfully, up the block.

Johnny is glancing around when I catch up to them. "Where's Two-Bit and Cherry and Marcia?"

Dally smacks Johnny on the back of the head. "Enjoying the excuse of not having to be in school, of course, scatterbrained idiot." We walk inside. Dally is about to let the door slam, but Johnny suddenly catches it with his foot and it closes quietly.

"Soda," Dally shouts into the house. The house is eerily silent. I guess this is what the house is like on Mondays and Thursdays when both Darry and Sodapop are at work and I'm in school. But today isn't Monday or Thursday, it's Wednesday. Dally worked today, until 5, but Soda didn't work until 5. It was only 12:23. I was still in third period.

Anyways, Soda doesn't respond. Just then, the phone rang from the kitchen. We walked into the living room to find it left in a mess. There were pillows thrown off the couch and chairs turned over on the floor. I walked over to the ringing phone and answered it.

"Hello?" I said into the phone

"Pony it's me Darry," he told me

"Darry! What's happened to the house? Where are you and Sodapop? What's going on?" I asked him.

"Don't worry Ponyboy everything will be fine." Darry told me "Soda just needed some air so him, Steve and I have taken him out to the country for a little breather. It's hard to say when we'll be back, but I give it 2 nights at the least seeing as Soda's pretty shaken up. Clean up the house while we're gone and just carry on as usual. I have to go now because the pay phone's almost out."

I took in this information and nodded "Okay bye Darry."

"Bye Pon-" was all he said before the line went dead. I figure the pay phone ran out. I stood there staring at the phone for a second before hanging it up and turning around to face Johnny and Dally. They looked at me with expectant eyes. I just walked past them and went over to the broom cupboard.

"Lets get to work, boys." I said before passing them each a cleaning utensil.

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**ONE HOUR LATER...**

Johnny and I ended up fixing the living room and kitchen up all by ourselves while Dally made up some excuse about meeting with his parole officer because he smashed a window of a car. I knew it wasn't true because Dally always brags when he does something like that. He has been acting rather weird lately and I'm not sure why. I tell this to Johnny and he says that it's probably nothing and that Dally can handle whatever it is he's up to, but I think Johnny knows more than he's letting on. Just then Two-Bit comes in laughing hysterically.

"Where have you been?" Johnny asked him.

"Well after we left the school to go to your house Cherry thought it would be best if maybe Sodapop had some space so we just drove around. Then we saw Dally walking around and we asked him what he was doing. He explained what was going on and how Sodapop, Darry and Steve weren't there. So then Marcia suggested we go catch a movie, but then Cherry didn't want to so we dropped her back off at school and the two of us went by ourselves. When we got there Randy saw us and got really mad because he thought that Marcia was cheating on him with me. Marcia couldn't tell him that we were friends with her and Cherry so she just told him to mind his own business and shove off. He left us alone, but we didn't finish the movie because Marcia wasn't feeling well so I drove her home. After I dropped her off my car broke down and I had to walk all the way from the heart of the Soc district to here. I was ducking behind things and rolling around trying to hide from Socs. I felt like a spy!" Two-Bit explained.

Johnny and I looked at each other and back up at him. "And all of this happened in an hour?" I asked him

"Yep," he replied before collapsing on the couch "I sure am beat." Johnny and I couldn't help, but laugh. Two-Bit was just too much sometimes.

Johnny began setting up a makeshift bed on the couch while Two-Bit followed behind him laughing like an idiot and messing up whatever he did. While they did that I walked over to mine and Sodapop's room rather scared as to what I would find up there...

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** 'S POINT OF VIEW**

**(A/N Mr. Goldfish is Ponyboy and Sodapop's pet goldfish that they keep in their room)**

I was just swimming around in my room when Sodapop walked in and opened this letter he got. Then I swam into the glass. Soda started getting angry when Steve walked in and they started talking. Ooops there's that glass again. Sodapop stood up and clenched his fists in anger. Then he went and picked up a pillow and threw it knocking my fishbowl over. So thats why I am currently lying here in a puddle of water and broken glass. Ponyboy comes running in and picks me up off the ground. I'm going to die and I know it.

I look into Ponyboy's eyes and say to him "Stay Gold."


	3. Chapter 3:Chris? No Crisis

**Hey guys! How's it going? We have worked on this story for a few days now and we are pretty proud of it so we really hope you like this chapter! This story was started by me (Ginger) and finished by Tabitha. We really enjoy reading all of your feedback, but would really like it if you could not use bad words in your reviews. Thank you!**

**-Ginger**

**Disclaimer~We REALLY want to own The Outsiders, but S.E. Hinton won't return our phone calls. **

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I woke up to find Two-Bit laying sprawled over me. I grunted under his weight and shoved him off of me. He reeked slightly of beer and popcorn. I glanced up, remembering how Darry had called me just yesterday. I wondered when they'd be home. I wish they were home because I was starving. And Johnny wasn't anywhere in sight. I wasn't going to wake Two-Bit up; he wasn't any help when he was in the midst of a hangover. Well, he wasn't any help when he was sober but, anyway.

I trot into the kitchen, to find cereal still covering the floor from Soda's breakdown. I wonder what happened. Picking up the phone, I dial Johnny's number which I know by heart.

"Hello," Johnny's mom snarls into the phone.

"Is Johnny home?"

"No," She replies, then hangs up.

That was sort of rude.

I spend the morning rationing the cereal that's still left in the box.

"Ponyboy," I hear Two-Bit's call from the living room eventually, and walk back reluctantly.

"Hey, how ya feeling?"

He props his head up on his fist. "Not too good, man, you got any food?"

"Unless you want to eat cereal off the floor, no," I laugh

He grunted, but staggered up. "Where's Johnny-kid?"

"I don't know," I shrug. "I called the house, but..."

I don't even have to finish my sentence, because Two-Bit dives into the kitchen, where he grabs the milk out of the refrigerator, chugging it from the bottle, and spilling it all over his clothes.

Wrinkling my nose in disgust, I glance at the newspaper. "That is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen a human being do. Thank goodness the milkman will deliver milk today."

"Sorry, man. Got any cash? Want to go get some food?"

"Yeah. I want to get food, but I don't have any cash."

He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, where's Dally?"

I remembered Dally acting weird. I wondered if Soda's breakdown had anything to do with Dally. Maybe. I should probably talk to Dally. I pick up the phone a second time.

"Hey Two-Bit, ya know Dally's number?"

He glanced over. "Yeah. It's... 675... No... 679... Yeah! Something 79. 879?"

I assume that Two-Bit doesn't actually know, but suddenly something catches my eye on the newspaper. The headline reads "UNUSUAL SERIES OF TEENAGE CRISES IN TULSA". I gasp and put down the phone.

"Hey, Two-Bit... Look at this...!"

He stares at it, struggling with the words. "Un...usual...series...of teenage...Chris? Nah, crises... dang!"

I look up at Two-Bit skeptically. "Two-Bit how many fingers am I holding up?" I asked him while holding three fingers.

He stared at them cross eyed for a second before grunting "Eleven?" I'd say someone had a few too many. I took the newspaper up to my room with Two-Bit following closely behind.

I sat down at my desk and read it the article. It talked all about how Johnny, Dally and I saved the kids and how Johnny "died". It told about Dally getting shot. It explained that it was really a miracle that they both ended up surviving. The main thing that the article talked about was how I had written a book about all of this. It included an interview with Mr. Synm, my english teacher, where he told them about how I had come to write the story. I was pretty upset that he hadn't told me about the interview sooner. Why do people even care about this stuff? It's my life.

I looked over my shoulder to tell Two-Bit only to find him completely passed out. I decided that I should probably go find Johnny after his mysterious disappearance. So I went to all the places Johnny would most likely be, but I couldn't find him. I began to wonder around and pretty soon I got lost. Just when I was about to give up and go find a payphone to call up someone to come pick me up I heard to people arguing and decided to ask them for help.

"You promised you wouldn't tell anyone." One voice said. I recognized it almost instantly to belong to none other than Dallas Winston's. I figured Dally would help me get home so I crouched down and let him finish talking with whoever it was before asking him.

"I didn't tell him," The other voice replied. It was Johnny "He just starting saying that he noticed you were acting a little weird lately and he started asking me questions. I tried to tell him it was nothing, but you know how I get."

Dally was silent for a moment before speaking "That kid's too observant for his own good." Then I heard them walk off down the end of the alleyway. I came out from behind the corner I was behind and digested what I just heard. What is going on? Has the world gone mad? My head is swarming with questions as a stumble around with no sense of where I currently am. This is like some crazy math problem. I am not very good at math. Sure I am in Advanced Placement Math, but I still don't consider myself good math student. I really like English. It just seems to come naturally to me and I love it. So you can see how all these things are just making me so confused.

Somehow I was able to make it home. I came in to find that Two-Bit was still asleep (no shocker there) Then the phone rang and I answered it.

"Hello?" I said into the phone

"Ponyboy it's me Steve." Steve told me "And I need you to do me a favor and tell my sister where I am." I was a little shocked he wanted me to do that considering they didn't seem all too close.

"Okay," I replied "is there anything else I can do?"

"Yeah I would really appreciate it if you showed Rory around town a little bit because she hasn't been here in all while."

"No problem," I responded "If you don't mind my asking, but why do you want me to do all this because, no offense, you two don't seem to get along very well."

"I feel bad because we got in this huge argument about how she wasn't aloud to hang with us so after a while I figure it may be kind of nice for her to spend some time with us until she makes some friends of her own. Hey listen kid the time's almost out, but I just need to tell that if you try anything with Aurora I personally whoop your -" the line went dead before he could finish his sentence, but his last message was understood. Now where on earth was I supposed to find Aurora if I didn't know where she would be?

First I decided it would be best to check and see if she was at her house. The problem was I have only been to Steve's house a few times. Eventually I was able to find it. It was a nice house. It wasn't as nice as a Soc house, but it was a good Greaser house. I suddenly got a little nervous as I walked up the steps to the door. Before I could talk myself out of walking away I knocked on the door.

It took a few seconds before Steve's mom came out. She opened the door. "Ponyboy? Is that you?" she asked me

"Yeah it's me." I replied

"Wow I haven't seen you in so long!" she exclaimed. It's true. They always used to drop off Steve at our house when we were little kids,but then about the time Aurora left Steve moved in with us and we didn't see his parents anymore.

"Umm is Aurora here?" I asked her

She froze "You know about Aurora?"

"Yeah Steve told us about her because I guess he figured we would find out soon anyways with her being at our school."

"Ah I see. Well sorry Aurora left about an hour ago to go find a nice place to read her book. Why do you need to see her?"

I froze. I wasn't sure Steve wanted me telling his mom or not. I wasn't sure Steve had told them that he was leaving town at all and I didn't want to get him in trouble.

"I have a question on the math homework and I was just wondering if she could help me." I told her making something up on the spot. She seemed to believe me.

I walked away from the Randle's house thinking of some places I might go if I were a teenage girl. The Malt Shop was a great ice cream parlor type place that had great milkshakes. It was in the middle class neighborhood so all were welcome. There it didn't matter if you were a Soc or a Greaser. Everyone got along in there, but as soon as you left those doors the fight was back on. I decided to check there first.

I walked through the doors and scanned the room. I saw a couple sharing a milkshake and some little kids eating some sundaes. Then I spotted a familiar face. It was Cherry.

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**Hey I hope you liked the story please review! If you didn't tell us why! Oh by the way we are trying to come up with a couple name for Ponyboy and Aurora so we came ship them properly!**


	4. Chapter 4:The Book Store

**Hello peoples! This story was written entirely by Ginger and I just think she did a really good job of writing Aurora! Comment if you agree with me! Thank you guys so much for all your positive reviews!**

**-Tabitha**

**Disclaimer~Until S.E. Hinton signs the transfer documents we will not be able to properly own The Outsiders so until then all we can **

**do is write fanfiction**

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I walk over to her, feeling oddly self-conscious and awkward with the crowd. When she sees me, she doesn't look very happy. I remember that Cherry was the only soc, and the only girl who knew about the whole Dally situation. She must have seen the paper. She's not sitting with Marsha; in fact, she's sitting with two people I have never seen before, both tow-headed blond like Dally, but with strange grey eyes.

"These are Damon and Temperance. My step-siblings," Cherry stands up.

I smile, wringing my hands impatiently. "Um, hey. I'm Ponyboy."

They nod respectfully, and stare down at their milkshakes sheepishly.

"We should talk," Cherry murmurs quietly to me.

We go find a quiet both in the corner, next to the speakers. I think it's kind of rude to abandon Cherry's step-siblings, but at least they're conferring with each other, deep in discussion.

The waitress comes over to us. "What can I get you two? The special today is Banana Cream." Cherry looks lost in thought, definitely about the Dally thing.

"I'll have one," I tell the waitress, and she glances at Cherry for a while, smacking her gum until she gives up and walks away.

"So you read about the thing," I sigh, pulling my hands behind my head.

She gazes at me for a while. "What are we going to do? What do the police want to do? Have they questioned Dally yet? Who told "The Tulsa Times" about this?"

"Let's make a list of everyone who knows," I say, my voice shaking, because the list is short and only has people I trust on it. "There's me, you, Dally, Darry, Soda, Two-Bit, and Johnny. Oh, and Marsha. And Steve."

We stare at eachother for a second.

"No, none of them would have done it,"

"What about Dally?" Cherry suggests.

I search her face. "What? No! He was angry at me today, because he thought I had told them. Which," I add, "I didn't."

"I'm going to go find Dally, before the police do," Cherry decides.

"Let's go," I say, offering her a hand to help her up.

She stands up on her own. "No, you're not coming. I think I know where he is right now, and you can't know about it. Don't you have better things to do?"

I shake my head. "No, I have no life, rem-" Then I remember Aurora. "Hey, do you know where I could find Aurora?"

"Aurora Randell? Steve's sister?" Cherry squinted at me. "I saw her walk into the bookstore over by the 5 and Dime. That girl seems kind of geeky. Is she going to join our...group?"

"No, she seems kind of like a loner. Steve told me to show her around town today."

She starts walking back towards Damon and Temperance, but stops short. "Hey, what's the news on Dally and Soda? Two-Bit told us that they went out into the country somewhere."

"I don't know," I reply bluntly. "They're taking a...vacation."

"Oh," Cherry nods, eyebrows furrowed. "I'll see you Pony."

The bell jingles as I bang open the door to the bookstore.

The women at the counter glares at me. "Teenagers," she mutters.

"Speaking of teenagers," I say sharply, "Have you seen a girl come in her a while ago?"

She adjusts her glasses, her eyes darting back and forth between my pockets and my face like I'm going to whip out a switchblade. It's understandable. Everyone knows about the rumbles that teenage boys get into around here.

"I do believe," She began in a slow, warbly voice, "that the girl you're looking for is still here. I don't want any trouble, okay, boy? I've heard about all the trouble your type has gotten into these past couple months."

"Your type?" I retort. "You mean 'greaser'? Gee, thanks," I growl, then turn and head further into the store. It isn't until I've passed the cookbook section that I realize that "all the trouble my type has gotten into" is the Dally thing. The papers. Right. Well, it's not like there hasn't been worse things in the paper, because there has. I remember when I was in about sixth grade, a girl had slit another girls throat. This had all happened in the bathroom of the grocery store.

Anyway, I realize that this store is more than twice the size of my house, so I have no idea where Aurora's gonna be. I stop short, just listening for a sound of human life. There's silence. Maybe she would be in the Shakespeare shelf. Then I remember that Shakespeare doesn't have a section, so I head over to the play section.

"Hey Aurora," I say. I start heading up these stairs. It's pitch dark and I can't even see my own hand in front of me, I can just barely make out the shape of stairs because of the candles lit every 5 steps, dimly lighting the ground.

"Yeek!" Someone yells.

I shriek and fall back into a candle, realizing I just stepped on human flesh. Then I realize it's probably Aurora.

"I'm sorry," I gasp. "I didn't see you there..."  
"If you come down here, you can see more clearly."

"Um, okay."

I sit down on the step, to find myself face to face with Aurora Randell.

"Erm, hi," I say, blushing furiously, or at least I think I do, because my face gets hot. Her eyes look eerie in the candlelight, but look a light brownish color that was relatively beautiful. "Oh, you're not wearing your glasses, why not? Is it because you have contacts? Did you know contacts were invented in 1888? Again, why no glasses?"

She blinked at me, suspiciously. "You...like them?"

I duck my head. "Um, they're cool, you know? They give you a nice look." Ponyboy, it's time for you to shut up.

Aurora brushes her hair behind her ear. "Um, not to be rude, but who are you?" Whatever book she had been reading, she sets on the step below her feet, on the step where my feet are.

"I'm Ponyboy, Ponyboy Curtis? We have A.P. Math together? After lunch?"

She nods. "Oh, okay, right."

"Yeah, I'm friends with Steve Randell, your brother. That's really why I'm here. Because Steve wanted me to show you around Tulsa a bit, cause you haven't been here in awhile, right? Or we could stay here, and you know, read."

She just watches me while I talk, so take that as a sign to keep talking. Eventually she sighs and rolls her eyes. "Steve asked you to show me around? Are you sure that was Steve?"

"Yup! Steve Randell. Best friends with Soda-Pop Curtis, my brother! He works at the DX, he's really handy with cars." I trace the rubber part of my shoe. "Hey, you like to read, right? I mean because you quoted Romeo and Juliet in Math. It's one of my favorite Shakespeare pieces. I also like the Twelfth Night."

"You talk a lot, Ponyboy." Then she looks down at her book.

I stare at her stunned for a moment. "Oh, I'm really sorry. I don't usually." Then what's your excuse, idiot? I do an internal face-palm. "I'm just really...sugar-high. I had a Banana Cream milkshake. It was really good." I never actually got it. I was starving. But I thought it was a pretty valid excuse.

"Oh." She says softly. "Well, do you want to just read? I don't really like the feel of Tulsa so much. The whole Greaser/Soc thing."

I ruffle my hair. "Well, I'm a greaser." For once I don't feel so proud, in fact, I feel undignified. "I guess. I was sort of born into it. It sucks."

She shrugs. "Technically so was I. I just don't believe in that sort of thing."

I pause, not sure what to say. "Maybe let's read now."

"Here, read this."

She passes me her book, and gets up. I'm not sure if she's getting another one for herself, or leaving. I peer at the title in the dim candlelight. It was _Sense and Sensibility_, by Jane Austen.

My mouth fell open.

No.

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**There's a little cliffhanger for you all! I hope you liked it! We enjoyed writing it! Sorry we use so many exclamation marks!**


	5. Chapter 5: Changing My Mind

**Hey everybody! This is such a short chapter and I am really sorry but I was having some problems. I should have some more chapters up by tonight, but for now please enjoy this! **  
**-Tabitha**  
**Disclaimer~ We don't own The Outsiders**

* * *

I can't believe she liked _Pride and Prejudice_. It was one of my favorite books of all time after _Gone With The Wind_. We read it last year in school and I fell in love with it almost right away. I walked after Aurora.

"Hey Aurora?" I looked around for her. Finally I found her on a ladder scanning a book shelf. "What are you doing up there?"

"Looking for a book," she replied "We are in bookstore after all."

I felt my ears turn bright red. Of course she was looking for a book. God, why am I such and idiot? "Oh." I said "Have you read this book before?" I asked her holding up the book she gave me.

"Yeah. It's one of my favorites." she said slowly stepping down from the ladder.

"What are your other favorites?" I questioned

"Why so many questions?" she asked me.

My ears once again turned red. What was it about this girl that made me blush so much? "Sorry," I began "I was just trying to make conversation."

"Oh no that's quite alright." she said "It's just most people don't want to get to know me." she told me as she traced the edge of the book shelf with her finger.

"Well maybe I'm not most people." I retorted. She smiled and picked up a book from the shelf.

I looked at the book cover. It was _To Kill A Mockingbird. _Another one of my favorites. Who is this girl? "I like your taste in books."

"Really? I like your...well I actually don't know anything about you so..." she walked away out the door. It was kind of odd because it was so abrupt. I watched after her for a minute before she poked her head back in the door.

"Are you coming?" she asked tilting her head to the right

"I thought you wanted to stay here." I replied

She shrugged "I changed my mind." she said simply


	6. Chapter 6:Spying

**Hey sorry people! Things have been quite hectic lately with Thanksgiving and everything... anyways here is chapter 6! I hope everyone likes it and if you do please review and tell us what you think.  
-Tabitha**

**Disclaimer~ We don't own The Outsiders. Please don't rub it in...it makes us cry**

I followed Aurora out the door and down the street.

"Wait up !" I called after her. She paused and turned around waving for me to catch up. I ran over to her.

"So where do you want to go first?" I asked her

"We could go wherever you want to go." she told me

I thought about it for a second. "How about we go grab something to eat."

"Where is there to eat."

"Well there's The Dingo where all us greasers like to hang and there's the Malt Shop where basically anyone goes."

"I really don't mind. Either is fine with me."

"Okay. How about The Dingo because that serves actual food. The Malt Shop mostly sells ice cream and stuff like that."

"Okay. Can you show me where The Malt Shop is first?"

"Of course."

We walked over to The Malt Shop and I peered into the window. I saw something weird. It was Cherry and her step brothers there but this time it looked like she was introducing them to someone. And that someone happened to be Dallas Winston.

"Hide!" I exclaimed ducking down under the window. She gave me a sceptical look, but ducked anyways.

"What are we doing?" she whispered

I realized she had no idea who Cherry and Dally are. "Those are my friends Dally and Cherry."

"Why are we spying on them?" she asked

"It's not spying." I defended

"Then why are we hiding?" she questioned me

I told her about how Dally was acting weird and going to school and making up excuses and talking to Johnny.

"Wow." was her only response

"I know." I replied. Then I cracked open the window so we could hear them better.

"It was very nice to finally meet you." one of Cherry's step brothers said to Dally.

"Yeah." Dally said to the boys "I'm glad I finally got a chance to meet you guys too."

The two boys got up and walked out the door after each giving Cherry a kiss on the cheek. Dally moved over to the other booth so he was sitting across from her.

"Dally did you read the paper?" Cherry asked him suddenly getting serious

"Er no," he said "Why do you ask?"

"You were in the paper today," she began "You, Johnny and Ponyboy all were. It was just talking about Bob dying. It also had an interview with a teacher at the school and said something about how he wrote an amazing story about it all."

"So?" Dally said "That's no big deal."

"The cops know you're alive Dally! They still think that you tried to shot them!" she exclaimed before bursting out in sobs. Dally tried to comfort her which was really surprising. That just made her cry more.

A group of Socs walked over to their table. "Hey Winston," one of them spat to Dally "Leave her alone."

"Listen up boys," Dally said "I'm not causing any trouble. Red and I were just talking."

"Why don't you stay with your own kind?" another Soc snarled at Dally

Thats when Cherry was finally able to speak. "Everythings fine here. You can go." she told them "I have everything under control."

The Socs looked at the two for a second before walking off with confused expressions. I was confused too. The door opened and I turned to see Aurora going inside. What on earth was she doing?


	7. Chapter 7: The Translator

**Disclaimer~ We don't own The Outsiders...(duh)**

* * *

"Hey are you Cherry and Dally?" Aurora said while walking up to their table. Dally and Cherry exchanged confused looks.

Dally leaned forward, "Who are you?"

"I'm Aurora. Aurora Randle."

"Right. Steve's sister." Cherry said to him.

"So anyways," she began "have you seen Ponyboy anywhere?"

"He went to go look for you." Cherry told Aurora

"Yeah, but we sort of um..." she trailed off and turned to the window where I was still hiding and motioned for me to come in.

I made sure that Dally and Cherry didn't see me before getting up and walking into the Malt Shop. "Hey Aurora."

"Hey Ponyboy," Aurora said to me "Are you ready to go?"

Dally looked between us "Where you two headed?" he inquired "a date?"

"No of course it's not a date," she stated "why would we go on a date and not tell you. The two of you are Ponyboy's friends."

"Well," Cherry started "you guys could date in secret. I hear tons of people do that. It's not like it's weird."

Well," Aurora started to say "no relationship is worth hiding. And if you have to hide it to be happy, it's not worth having." After that she bounded out the door leaving me with two very confused teens. There was a very awkward silence so I just decided to leave.

I followed behind Aurora. "Ready to go to The Dingo?" I asked her

"Yeah sure," she responded, obviously very pleased with herself "Wanna pretend to be my translator."

"Why would you need a translator?" I asked her "You speak english."

"You"ll see. Just follow my lead." Aurora and I continued down the street to the Dingo, but I had to stop to tie my shoe. I felt someone looking at me. When I checked to see who it was Aurora quickly turned her head. Had she been looking at me? I seriously had to do a double take when I saw her. No joke. Her hair was glistening in the sun and seemed to flow down her shoulders perfectly. It seems as if she were glowing altogether. She moved her head to look back down at me and seemed surprised to find me looking back. We were both blushing profoundly.

"What's wrong?" she asked sounding rather self-conscious

"Nothing," I told her "Nothing at all." I guess it's safe to say my face was bright red. I seriously looked like a freakin' tomato. Although, it's not like she was any better.

"Ready to go get some lunch?" she inquired

"Sure," I replied.

She held out her hand to help me up to my feet. "Come translator," she said "To The Dingo it is!" Then she took off running down the street. Obviously she didn't know I was on the track team because soon I was directly behind her and she seemed fairly surprised by this. We ran all the way to The Dingo with me in front the entire time.

"Hey look," Aurora screamed "a distraction!"

"What?" I asked, stopping and turning around to look at her.

She continued to run and went up the street passing me and made it up to the front door of The Dingo. "I win!" she shouted

"I never said it was a race,"

"You never said it wasn't and who says that you're the one to decide."

"I say so,"

"Again, why you?"

"Why not?"

"Well, what's wrong with me?"

"Nothing," I retorted "nothing at all."

"You said that earlier." she informed me

"Maybe because it's true." I stated

I hadn't realized that this whole time I was walking towards her. Gosh, what was up with me today? It was so weird. I've never acted like this before. "You ready?"

"First, I've been ready for a while. Haven't you been listening? And second that last question was improper." she told me

I chuckled and shook my head. This girl was something else. We walked inside the restaurant and Aurora whispered to me "Remember, you're a translator." Aurora said and I nodded and went over to a table and sat down. Soon a waiter came over and gave us some menus.

"Do you guys want some water?" he asked us

I was about to answer when I remembered that Aurora wanted me to translate for her so I pretended to say something to her in gibberish and she responded.

"Yes please." I said to him and he returned it with a very strange and steady stare before walking away.

"Ha," whispered Aurora "Did you see the look on his face?"

The rest of lunch pretty much continued in this way. We pretended to speak a language which I then would "translate" what we were saying into english. It didn't make sense and frankly I really didn't know why we were doing this in the first place, but it was fun nonetheless. Today was a good day.

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**Sorry it took so long to get up and that it's kinda lame ,but we hope you liked it anyways!**


	8. Chapter 8: Flirting?

After lunch I walked Aurora home. "Bye," I said to her  
"Bye Ponyboy," she replied "Thanks for the amazing day."  
"It was my pleasure," I told her, and it really was. "Wanna hang out again tomorrow?"  
She thought for a moment "Hmmm...no,"  
I felt my face drop "Oh," I began "okay thats fine."  
"I'm only kidding!" she exclaimed "of course I'll hang out again tomorrow.  
"Are you sure you're not Two-Bit's sister?" I jokingly asked  
She gave me a funny look "Who's Two-Bit?"  
I realised that she didn't know anyone in the gang except for myself and Steve. "I'll introduce you to the gang that's here. Johnny, Two-Bit, and Dally."  
"I kinda met Dallas today," she informed me. I had forgotten about that. It seemed as if we had been hanging out a lot longer than we actually had. That just goes to show that when you're having fun time seems to fly.  
"Well," I started "not really. You kinda confused him and then left. Why did you do that anyways?"  
"What did you mean when you said 'the gang that's here?" she questioned  
"I asked first," I reminded her  
"I asked second,"  
"So I answer your question after you answer mine,"  
"Is that how the logic works?"  
"Yep."  
"Well Ponyboy," she said to me "I'm sorry I didn't get the memo."  
We looked at each other for a second before bursting out into laughter. It was funny, but to be honest I'm really not sure who won the argument. Neither of us got our questions answered. Actually, I'm not even sure if it really was an argument at all. We were joking around sort of pretending to argue, but there was the tiniest bit of serious behind it all. Oh my god. I think we were...flirting


	9. Chapter 9: You Are A Unicorn

When I got home that night it was a little disastrous. Two-Bit was either really drunk or on a massive sugar rush (it was probably both) and was trying to get Dally to have a pillow fight with him. Dally ,of course, was refusing to do so which resulted in Two-Bit chasing him around the kitchen. Johnny was sitting on the couch trying to avoid being tackled.

"Who wants dinner?" I called out to them. Their heads all turned and looked at me finally realizing that I was there.

"What are you doing here?" Two-Bit asked

"I happen to live here," I reminded him "A better question is: What are you doing here?"

"Depends," Two-Bit began "where am I?"

Okay he was definitely drunk. No surprise there. I walked over to the couch and sat down next to Johnny. "So Johnny," I started "what do you want for dinner?"

Johnny shrugged "Whatever. You know I don't care."

"I'll go make some sandwiches," I told him and started to get up from my places on the couch, but Johnny grabbed me and pulled me back down beside him. The funny thing about our couch is that it is really old and curves down in the center so that anyone sitting on it is practically in each other's laps. Sodapop always used to tell me that whenever I brought a girl home to have her sit in the couch. He claims it 'works every time' whatever that means. Only Soda hasn't made any jokes like that in a while. Or had any girls over. Or gone on any dates. He hasn't even been flirting with his many admirers down at the DX station. I had this crazy idea a few weeks ago about hiring a model to go down there and kiss him or something, but we don't really have enough money to hire a model, also I don't think Soda would want me to mess with his love life. He's not been himself for a while and it's scaring me something fierce.

"So what did you do today?" Johnny asks, breaking my trance.

"Hung around," I replied

"Cool," he said, "with who?"

"Steve's sister,"

"The one he never told us about?"

"No, Johnny," I retorted "his other sister."

"Aw, lay off will yah?" said Johnny in response to my sarcastic remark "I'm tired."

Two-Bit sat up off the floor "Yeah right," he said "If you're tired then I'm drunk."

"You are drunk!" Dally informed him

"You. Are. A. Unicorn!" Two-Bit screamed at him. We all looked at Two-Bit who was now giggling like a little girl.

"Well," Dally began "I'm off to Buck's. You two have fun dealing with...that." And with that he just walked out the door leaving us alone with a drooling idiot.


	10. Chapter 10: Sandwiches

Johnny and I set Two-Bit up in front of the TV watching Mickey.

"Do you want me to make sandwiches?" Johnny offered

"No, thats alright. I can make some, you watch the alcoholic over there." I said, gesturing to Two-Bit "Don't let him break anything."  
Johnny chuckled and nodded his head, sitting down next to Two-Bit who was singing along with the Mickey Mouse theme song. I crossed over to the kitchen and took out some bread, ham, and cheese.

When I was almost done I heard Johnny shout from the living room, "Put down the vase, Two-Bit!" He paused "No, drop it! I said drop it. Good boy,"

Walking into the room, sandwiches in hand. "Johnny," I began "he's not a dog."

"Are you sure about that?" he asked, glancing down at Two-Bit who was scooting his butt along the floor.

I watched him for a second before responding "Good point," Johnny came over to the table, sat down across from me, and grabbed a sandwich.

"Food!" Two-Bit shouted up to me "Two-Bit want food!" then he began to laugh hysterically and roll around on the carpet. I picked up one of the sandwiches and through it at his face. It hit his forehead and slowly slid onto the floor.

"So, what did you do today?" Johnny asked, slowly munching away at his sandwich.

"Wow, you really are tired. We already discussed this, Johnny. I hung out with Aurora. We might be hanging out again tomorrow if you want to join us. The three of us could go out for lunch or something. I want to wait to introduce her to Two-Bit and Dally. Sort of ease her into this whole situation, ya dig?"

"Yeah," Johnny said, nodding "I hear you, man. Did you read the paper this morning?"  
I nodded "Can you believe that they interviewed my teacher about my theme. That was my school work. He shouldn't be aloud to talk about that and then to not even tell me about! It's unbelievable."

"Dally's sure in trouble. The cops know he's really alive and they still think he was trying to shoot at 'em. This whole thing is a mess. I'm just glad that my trial was settled and I didn't even have to put a toe into the courthouse." he told me

"Yeah," I responded "just had to put a toe into death's doorway." Johnny was silent. I looked up and saw tears welling up in his eyes. "Hey, you know I didn't mean anything by it."

"I know, man." he assured me "it's just hard, ya know. My friends saw me supposedly die and then when the doctors were able to bring me back they were all watching our other friend being shot. It's just awful. And then I wasn't able to call you from my physical therapy. So, there I was not knowing what's going on, thinking that Dally's dead. I come back months later almost completely healed, able to walk, but with nowhere to go. When I got to your house all of you were just getting over the fact that Dally was not, in fact, killed and I just show up. The looks on your face when you saw me limping up the street. You were in shock. You looked frightened." He broke down in huge sobs. I hadn't realized it, but I too was crying.

"I'm sorry, Johnny. It's all my fault." I told him

"No, its mine."

"Don't talk like that, Johnny. If it's anyone's fault it's certainly not yours."

Johnny was quiet once more, which I took as a chance to wipe the tears from my eyes. He was right, this whole thing was a mess and there was nothing I could do about it. Soda, Steve, and Darry were away, Dally was acting weird, and you could read all about it today in The Tulsa Times.  
Once I had properly draped a blanket over the passed out Two-Bit and made sure that Johnny was comfortable on the couch I was able to go up to my own room and sleep.


	11. Chapter 11: A Surprise Visit

The next morning I woke up to a crash downstairs. Throwing on a shirt I quickly ran to inspect the damage. What I saw was actually rather surprising and not what I had first suspected. Of course I figured that Two-Bit probably broke something and I was right, but there was another person in the room besides Johnny. It was Aurora. And Two-Bit currently had her slung over his shoulder.

"What is going on in here?" I questioned "Two-Bit, put the poor girl down you're probably making all the blood rush to her head."

Two-Bit turned and faced his back to me so that I could see Aurora properly. "It's fine," she assured me "there's some broken glass on the floor and he said that he didn't want me to get hurt."

I surveyed the situation of my poor living room. The coffee table was knocked over and the vase that Two-Bit had tried to mess with last night was now on the floor which meant that there was water, flowers, and broken glass all over.

"Would someone care to explain to me what's going on in here?" I asked

"I tripped," Aurora stated straight away in a joking manner. The was she said it would have been really funny if my living wasn't such a disaster zone. It caused Johnny and Two-Bit to laugh, nonetheless.

Two-Bit swung Aurora around so that he was holding her under her arms making them see eye to eye. It looked like he was picking up a little kid the way her feet dangled off the ground. "That was pretty funny," he told her

"Why thank you," she replied

"My name's Keith Matthews," Two-Bit said in a fake formal voice

Aurora responded in the same fashion "Why hello Keith Matthews. I am Aurora Peirce Randle, please to make your acquaintance."

"The pleasure is all mine, Aurora," he said

Two-Bit put Aurora down and she walked over to Johnny, her heavy boots making a lot of noise along the way. "And you," she addressed Johnny "must be Jonathan Cade."

"Uh, yeah that's me, but I go by Johnny." Johnny said to her in his quiet voice, seeming now rather frightened of her. Aurora looked at him for a second before whispering something that only the two of them could hear. Johnny paused for a second and then returned her bright smile.

Finally, Aurora and her big clunky boots made there way over to me. "Johnny will explain everything that happened. I really must be on my way, though." she told me

"Where are you going?" I asked her

"Places," she said to me "If you still want to hang out later I'll be at the book in about an hour." And with that she walked out the front door.


	12. Chapter 12: Ghosts

Two-Bit, Johnny, and I cleaned up the mess. Wait,no, correction: Johnny and I cleaned up the mess while Two-Bit sang show tunes. Once everything was fixed we sat down on the couch and Johnny got ready to tell me the story.

"Well, at about 5:30 this morning Two-Bit woke me up because he heard something and thought it was a ghost." Johnny told me

"Logically," I responded, hoping that even in his current state Two-Bit would be able to recognize the sarcasm in my voice.

"Anyways," Johnny began "After that Two-Bit was completely on edge and refused to let me sleep. Luckily, I was able to convince him not to wake you up and call the police."

"Thanks, Johnnycakes," I said

"You're welcome. And so this morning Aurora came and knocked on the door. Two-BIt flipped out because anyone we knew would have just let themselves in. So, he ran off to grab something while I answered the door. She said that she was here to see you and I figured it must have been Aurora so I let her in. Then Two-Bit comes running out with a broom in hand, waving it wildly about trying to attack the alleged ghost."

I turned to Two-Bit "You didn't hurt her did you?" I asked him

"How should I know? Johnnycakes isn't done telling the story yet." he responded

Johnny returned to his story "Then Two-Bit knocked the vase clear off the coffee table. Aurora was watching this whole thing and finding it very amusing. Two-Bit thought that the ghost had knocked the vase down and, of course, figured that it must be hiding under the table so he just went ahead and turned that over too. I then heard you moving upstairs and when I turned around you were there and Two-Bit was holding Aurora up for God knows why."

"I was holding her so that the ghost wouldn't eat her." Two-Bit stated as if that was the most normal thing in the world "It happens all the time,"Johnny and I froze then turned to Two-Bit.

"What is wrong with you?" A voice from behind us asked. We all turned to see Dallas standing at the back door

"Yeah, Ponyboy," Two-Bit said "what's wrong with you?"


	13. Chapter 13: Memories

**30 MINUTES LATER...**

Smoke. I needed a smoke. Aurora wouldn't be at the bookstore yet, but I seriously needed to get out of that house. There was a store around the corner that I could probably buy a pack of Kools from. I walked up the street to it and opened the doors.

As I was paying for the cigarettes I heard the man behind the counter speak. "Hey, I don't want any trouble, ya hear?" he said to me

"What?" I asked him, looking around the shop to see if he was actually talking to me

"Don't play all innocent with me, Boy," he warned "I read about you in the paper the other day. You stabbed and killed that boy."

I stared menacingly at the man for a second just to try and freak him out, but felt bad and took my Kools and left. Taking my lighter, I lit my cigarette and took a long drag. Golly, that felt good...it's been too long. Yes, by my standards, two days without a good smoke is too long for my liking. Much too long. I decided that it was probably best if I walked around for few minutes before going to the bookstore because I didn't want to be in there alone with the rude cashier. Kicking around a rock on the floor, I slowly made my way down the street.

Well, I didn't want to show up at the bookstore first, so I decided to walk around in the park for a while. It was still rather early and I enjoyed just being alone for the time being. A chance to clear my head was just what I needed. I used to go to this park a lot when I was a little kid. My parents would take the three of us here all the time and this is actually where we met most of the gang. Our parents would sit and talk while we played, of course now the park brings back a much grimmer memory of Bob's killing, but I used this as a chance to think about the simpler times.

Soda and Steve would try to hit on girls, but would have to watch me at the same time. Darry used to play football with some of his buddies from school. Thats exactly how it was on the day I met Johnny.

"He rolled down the hill that was at least 94 feet long" Steve told the two girls that him and Sodapop were chatting up.

"That is not what happened." I corrected them. My 5 year old mind was not able to grasp the concept that they were lying on purpose to impress those girls. "Soda tripped down the hill and started crying. I had to run inside and grab him a band-aid."

They both turned to glare at me while the girl walked away, giggling. Even at age 8, Steve and Soda were into girls. I'm 14 and still haven't.

"Buddy, we were telling the story like that on purpose so that the girls would want to hang out with us." Soda tried explaining to me

"Bu-but then...and..." I was having a really hard time processing this

Steve looked at me for a second and it seemed like he was about to smile at my confusion, but seemed to replace it with a snarky comment "Just go bother someone else, kid."

"Hey, lay off." Soda told Steve

"It's fine," I assured him "I'll go play on the structure."

As I began to walk away from the duo, Sodapop called after me. I turned around, hoping that he would call me back over "Be careful, Pony!" he shouted after him before running off the other way with his best friend.

I sighed and got on a swing. I'm not sure how long I had been sitting there, but after awhile I heard a small voice from behind me. "Is this seat taken?"

Turning around, I saw a boy that looked around my age. Thats right -Johnny, it was Johnny.

Thats probably one of my favorite memories from when I was a kid. It wasn't happy nor sad. If it were happy then I figure I'd miss it too much.

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**AURORA'S POINT OF VIEW-**

I wish I had a job. That may sound rather weird, but ever since I got back ,I have been really bored. It's not been very long, but still. I suppose that I am just a very restless person by nature. Steve would get bored all the time and start fights with anyone he could.

'Romeo and Juliet' is probably one of my favorite stories and I found a very nice copy at the bookstore that I want to get, but it's much too expensive. Really, I love all of Shakespeare's plays because they take you to a whole other world. A world without all the stupid things I've seen in my lifetime.


	14. Chapter 14: Diana

**PONYBOY'S POINT OF VIEW**

Aurora's laughter filled the near empty bookstore and seemed to bounce off the walls. The teenage girl behind the counter glared in our direction, but we ignored her. I was glad that the jokes I had gotten from Soda were funny to Aurora, and even though they weren't funny to me, I had to smile and laugh along with her because she looked so pretty when she smiled.

* * *

**AURORA'S POINT OF VIEW**

Ponyboy and I were sitting on the floor of the bookstore and he was telling me jokes. In truth, they weren't very funny, but the different expressions he made when he explained them were so, well, dorky and cute.

* * *

**PONYBOY'S POINT OF VIEW**

I think that the teenage girl behind the counter was a little bit jealous of our laughter. I knew that Aurora had noticed the same thing by the way she glanced over at the front desk a couple times while she laughed. I wondered if I should invite the girl to sit with us, or talk with us, even though she was maybe a year or two older.

* * *

**AURORA'S POINT OF VIEW**

The girl behind the counter seemed really lonely, which made me feel really bad for her. I knew the feeling well and it was awful. Would Ponyboy mind if I asked her to hang out? Guess I was about to find out.

"Hey, uh," I read her name tag "Diana is it?"

The girl looked up. "Yeah?" she replied

"Would you like to come hang out with us?" I asked

She looked around then shook her head. "I couldn't intrude on your date,"

"Date? We're not on a date and we'd love to get to know you. Right Ponyboy?"

* * *

**PONYBOY'S POINT OF VIEW**

Did I want to get to know Diana? Sure. But I had had high hopes for hanging out with Aurora today at the bookshop. Then again, it wouldn't be fun if Aurora wasn't having fun, so I nodded and said,

"Yes, we would."

I knew by the way the Aurora flashed a grin at me that I had said the right thing.

* * *

**DIANA'S POINT OF VIEW**

I was glad that the two of them wanted me to hang out with them. Recently, my friends and I had a bit of a fall out. Ever since my cousin Bob was killed I've been a bit of a hermit, locked away in my room. Bob was supposed to come to my house the morning after he was killed. He never showed up and it made me nervous so, I went for a jog. That's when I found the body.


	15. Chapter 15: Promises and Yearbooks

**DIANA'S POINT OF VIEW**

"My shift ends in 10 minutes," I told the girl "Uh..."

"Aurora, Aurora Randle. And this is my friend Ponyboy Curtis." Aurora told me. Ponyboy Curtis...why did that name sound so familiar? Then it hit me. That was the boy who killed Bob. He was the reason my cousin was dead. It was his fault.

"Ponyboy Curtis," I stuttered "You're Ponyboy Curtis?" I asked him

He looked at me, confused. "Uh, yeah"

I muttered a near silent "Oh," My palms began to sweat and I looked nervously at the clock, waiting for a chance to run. "So, you guys are Greasers?" I asked them

"Define 'Greaser'," Aurora said to me

"J.D., hood," I responded

Ponyboy clenched his fists which made me extremely scared "We're not bad people if that's what you're asking. A Soc could act like a horrible person and still be considered a saint and if we act nice to everyone we're still treated like something less."

Aurora spoke up. "You're going to have to be more clear than that. We are labeled as Greasers, but we're good people."

My mom came in to take over her shift right on time. As soon as she entered, I grabbed my bag and bolted to the door as fast as my feet would go.

* * *

**AURORA'S POINT OF VIEW**

Ponyboy and I watched Diana run out the door and down the street.

"Does she want us to follow?" Pony asked me

I shook my head. That girl was obviously a Soc now that I think about it. She works in a bookstore in a really nice neighborhood. "I think we scared her off," I told Ponyboy

"Yeah," he replied, head up in space. I would give anything to know what's going on in that head of his. His body was right here, next to me, but his eyes were proof that his thoughts were a million miles away.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I asked him

"How old do you think that girl was?"

"15 or 16 probably. Why?"

"Come with me," He said, grabbing my hand. I could feel a blush creeping up my neck as he pulled me down the street. It was like everywhere his hand touched mine there was tingles shooting up my body.

"Where are we going?" I asked him

He, much to my despair, stopped pulling me along. "My house. I have a weird feeling about that Diana girl. We need to go check Sodapop's yearbook from before he dropped out. She's about a year younger than him which means that the one from his Sophomore year should have her in it. We didn't order a yearbook for me last year because of...events..." he explained.

I wondered what he was talking about. Events? What happened to Ponyboy last year? I wanted to ask him, but I could tell by the look on his face that what happened was probably a really long story. Ponyboy got really quiet for a second and I wasn't sure what to say. I realized that the look on his face right in that moment was an ever present look of despair. No matter what happened it would always be there. He could cover it up as much as he wanted, but it wouldn't go away.

The tears streamed down his face and he stopped walking. Frantically, he wiped them from his eyes at an attempt to hide the fact he was upset from me. The more he tried, the more the tears fell.

"Come on, Ponyboy," I said, pulling him along an alley away from the business of the streets and the glare of the sunlight.

"You don't understand, Aurora." He told me. Understand what? What was he not telling me?

"Then make me understand," I replied, kicking away some broken glass from the ground to sit down.

I patted a space next to me for him to sit down as he spoke, "That girl didn't want to hang out with us because of me. Because of what I did, Aurora. Even after the trial, even after we weren't convicted, she was still scared of me. The fact that we were Greasers didn't bother her as much. I saw it in her eyes when she realized who I was."

What was Ponyboy talking about? What did he do that was so terrible? His eyes met mine as I asked, "Ponyboy, what did you do that would frighten her enough to make her run away?" I tried to make my voice as gentle as I possibly could.

He cleared his throat, "I-I.." he stuttered

"Whatever it is, Ponyboy, I promise not to hold you accountable," I assured him

"But you should hold me accountable. It was my fault that everything happened." He raised his voice. I wasn't sure if it was in anger or guilt.

"I promise," I told him. It was true, I wasn't going to be upset or anything with him. Call me nosey, but I really needed to know now. "I'm being sincere, Ponyboy. Whatever happened I promise I'll understand. I'll help you."

"I killed Bob Sheldon," he said

* * *

**2 HOURS LATER**

Ponyboy and I had spent almost two hours in that alley while he told me about the death of his parents, the social workers that made regular drop bys, the freight to Windrixville, the burning of the church, the rumble, the supposed deaths of both Johnny and Dally. He told me all the major events that happened all in the time period of one week. In my opinion, it wasn't anyone's fault that those things happened. Diana had no reason to run away, or maybe in her eyes, she did. I just couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that someone could actually be afraid of Ponyboy.

* * *

**PONYBOY'S POINT OF VIEW**

I told Aurora the whole story. Well, maybe not the entire story. I didn't tell her the details of that because they were too graphic to think about. At some point, she will probably read my theme, everyone probably will. After that article in the paper I think that everyone will want to read it. But they don't deserve to know what I felt that night because all they would do is use it against me. No matter how much they knew, they would still see me as a killer. It didn't matter to them that it was self defense. They didn't care about me. All they cared about is what happened.

"The consequences of saving me would follow Johnny and I around our whole lives no matter how much we tried to hide from them." I told Aurora

"It's better that way. You'll be standing up to those jerks, not running away from your problems like a coward. It shows how strong you really are," she replied, "One of my biggest regrets right now is not saying something when I had the chance. I did some things in Portland and those people still think of me the way I left them. If only I had done something about it in time then I wouldn't feel like this now. I ran away, but you have a chance to change people's views."

I didn't really understand what Aurora was talking about, but I nodded nonetheless. Maybe one day I'll know what she meant, but today was not that day.

We walked back to my house to figure out who Diana was. I opened the door for Aurora who stepped through. As she walked past me, I could smell the faint scent of green apples coming from her hair. The urge to reach out and twirl one of the strands of curly brown hair was almost overpowering. Almost. I managed to restrain myself from the small and endlessly fascinating girl that stood before me.

As I closed the front door I told her, "I'll run up and grab the yearbook from my room and you can wait on the couch or something," I didn't want her to be in my room because a.) even though I cleaned up, it was still a mess and b.) Darry said that girls aren't allowed in the bedroom, a rule that probably applied more to Soda than to me.

She responded with a simple, "Okay," before walking down the hall. I bolted up the stairs to my room in record time and grabbed to yearbook from the desk where it lay. As I began to make my descent down the stairs I heard a surprised squeal erupt from downstairs. I jumped over the last few steps and ran down the hall to the living room.


	16. Chapter 16:Home again

**me: hey guys**

**readers:**

**me:**

**readers:**

**me:**

**readers:**

**me: enjoy the chapter**

**readers: who the heck was that?**

**-Ginger**

* * *

**PONYBOY'S POINT OF VIEW**

I dashed into the living room and saw that it was a bit of a disaster zone. This time, it wasn't Sodapop's mess; the root of the disarray stood broodingly with his head not turned toward us. But we could tell, from his messy blond hair, that it was Dally. Aurora stood in the doorway of the kitchen looking confused.

"Um, Dally?" I asked, walking around the room so I could see him completely.

He didn't look at me but moved his head in my direction. "It's all ruined," he said, somewhat scoffingly.

I exchanged a look with Aurora.

"What's ruined, Dally?" I tried my best not to sound like an adult talking to a young child, because I knew that that would probably make Dally more upset.

He met my gaze, rubbing his jaw with his palm. "Cherry. Me with Cherry. Cherry with me. We're done."

"What?! You and Cherry?" Aurora and I chorused.

"We were going out and now we're not. It's not that hard of a concept to grasp, Pony," He said rather bitterly.

"Since when?" I asked.

"You know how I started going to school a lot about a month ago?" Dally told me

"Yeah," I responded.

Dally nodded, "Around that time,"

"Wow," I couldn't help but marvel over Dally's commitment. "I can't believe a girl made you change your tune about education,"

Dally glared at me. "Well, it's not like I'm going to head back over to school now that we're broken-up."

"Well, she's going to keep going to school," I said, trying to point out the fact that most people continue going to school after bad breakups.

"Yeah, exactly." Dally rolled his eyes and passed me and Aurora as he made his way into the kitchen.

Aurora and I stared at each other for a moment. I wasn't sure if we were staring at each other out of disbelief, or we were actually staring at each other.

About a minute after Dally left, Johnny came in through the front door.

"Hi guys," he said in his quiet voice

"Did you know that Dally and Cherry were dating?" I asked Johnny

Johnny looked between the two of us with wide eyes, "How did you find out?"

"So, you did know?" I paused, "And you didn't tell me?"

His eyes darted back and forth, "Well, I couldn't. Dally really didn't want me to tell anyone. I wasn't even supposed to know in the first place."

I asked Johnny, "How did you find out?"

Johnny was silent for a second and then awkwardly laughed, "I went to Buck's because I wanted to ask Dally if I could stay there that night. Both Steve and Two-Bit were sleeping in the living room."

I nodded, "Okay, continue.."

"Basically, I walked in on them...kissing," he responded.

I looked over at Aurora, who had her eyebrows raised. She glanced at me quickly, then back at Johnny.

Dally walked back into the room, looking annoyed and eating a piece of bread. When he saw Johnny, he didn't really smile but stopped scowling slightly. "Hey, man. Guess the secret's out now."

Johnny hesitated before saying, "so, what's the matter, man?"

"They broke up," Aurora and I said in unison, the second time that day.

Aurora half smiled at me. "Great minds think alike,"

Johnny leaned over and gives Dally a brave pat. This was so unlike Johnny, that I stopped smiling at Aurora and stared in disbelief at the quiet greaser.

"I'm sorry, man," Johnny says to Dally, giving him a meaningful nod.

Dally shrugged. "I..I just really liked her."

This was so uncharacteristic of Dally that it surprised us all, even Aurora who didn't know him very well.

Suddenly, Sodapop, Darry, and Steve all came bursting through the door at once causing all of us- except Dally who was back to his usual self- to jump.

"You're back!" I exclaimed, before rushing to my brothers and pulling them into a hug.

"Hey, Pony!" said Steve, a little less enthusiastic.

Aurora cleared her throat causing Steve to turn around to face her. "Hey, Stevie..." she said to him.

Soda snorted, which made Steve to glare at him over his shoulder, "Yeah Rors?"

"A word?" She asked, even though it didn't seem like she was really asking-it was more like a command, "alone,"

Steve nodded, "We can talk on the front porch,"

They left and as they walked down the hall I saw them kicking one another in the butt.

"So..that was Aurora," Darry said, sitting down on the couch.

"Why did you guys leave?" I asked Soda, excited to find out what happened.

Sodapop's face turned an odd shade of pink as he said, "I kind of overreacted...Sandy sent me a letter with pictures of her baby and just a list of things about him. It was just so..he's not mine and I know that, but it was just really...scary, I guess."

"That was kind of a b*tch move for Sandy," I heard Aurora say from behind me. I didn't even hear her and Steve come back in.

* * *

**AURORA'S POINT OF VIEW**

Despite how rundown the Curtis's house was, they really did have a nice view of the sunset. Maybe rundown isn't the right word. More like worn or broken-in. Loved.

Steve gave me an uncertain glance as we sat down on the porch. "Ponyboy... didn't... well... try anything with you, did he?"

I stared at my brother for a moment. Why would Steve assume that? Was Ponyboy a player? "No," I responded.

He glanced at me skeptically. "Are you sure, Rory?"

"No, he didn't try anything," I say with more certainty.

Steve nodded, "That's good...I think..."

What the heck? Was Steve high or something? That didn't even make sense. "What?" I asked him.

"If Pony doesn't, who knows who will," he responded.

"You're insane, you know that Steve?" I told him.

He rolled his eyes and went back inside the house. I didn't even get to talk to him about letting me hang out with the gang some more like I was planning to. Jerk. I went back into the house and the younger of the two brothers,Sodapop, was telling them about Sandy. I remembered Ponyboy telling me a little bit about her.

"That was kind of a b*tch move for Sandy," I said

Sodapop laughed, but the older one, Darry, looked at me with rather wide eyes as did Steve.

"Since when do you use bad words?" Steve questioned

I laughed. Steve and I had some definite catching up to do.


	17. Chapter 17: The Competition

**I am so sorry that it took us so long to update! The end of the school year was -as you can imagine- hectic. We found out our favorite teacher was leaving and all this other stuff...anyways, I hope you like the chapter! **

* * *

"Hey, sir?" I said, walking up to Mr. Syme, my English teacher, during lunch time.

"Yes, ?" He responded

I shifted from foot to foot not making eye contact with him. The interview in the article had been two weeks ago, but I hadn't had time to come and talk to him. Things started to go back to the way they used to be after Steve, Sodapop, and Darry got back and Dally and Cherry broke up. Aurora and I have been hanging out a lot more and we were able to figure out that Diana is Bob's cousin (we just asked her politely)

"Well," I began, "I saw that you did an interview about my theme in the Tulsa Times and I was just wondering if we could talk about?"

He nodded, "of course,"

"So...why did you do it? And why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to wait for a confirmation."

I looked at him with a confused look on my face, "Confirmation? For what?"

"Well, I entered your theme into a contest of sorts. The newspaper didn't mention that, though...anyways, it's a contest between high school to college age students and everyone submits a story."

"And..." I said, wanting him to continue.

"And the top five selected students get to go to Washington D.C.-"

"On an airplane and stuff?"

"Then they get interviewed on an evening talk show-"

"On T.V. and stuff?"

He chuckled, "yes, all those things, plus the winner gets their's published.

I practically shouted, "Published?!"

Mr. Syme nodded, enthusiatically, "And I didn't want to tell you because I was afraid that it would get your hopes up so soon, but I really do think that you have a shot,"

"This is amazing! Thank you so much for this opportunity!" I said, finding it hard to contain my excitement. The bell rand indicating lunch was over, so I turned to leave and ran out the door.

* * *

**AFTER SCHOOL-**  
It was time to go to track practice, but I was so excited to tell Darry and Soda about the contest that I ran all the way to the track feilds and got there 10 minutes early.

"Oops," I muttered, under my breath

"Hey, Pony!" I heard a voice call from behind me

I turned around and saw my friend Kieran from track walking down the bleachers towards me,"Hey!" I called back to him, "Came early too?"

"I always do," he replied, "Will and I get here early and stretch,"  
Will and Kieran are best friends and they both run on track with me. They're really good and some of the only people on team who are actually nice to me, even though they're Socs.

"So...uh...I'm going to go get changed," he told me and started walking towards the locker rooms.

"Alright," I responded

* * *

**AFTER TRACK PRACTICE-**  
Track practice had been rather rigorous that day, but Coach had somewhere he had to be and we got out early. I was walking up the bleachers when I saw Aurora sitting there reading a book.

"Whatcha' reading?" I asked her

She jumped a little and letting out a squeal causing her book to go flying out of her hand onto the ground. "Jesus, Pony! You scared me," she said  
I chuckled, "How could not hear me coming? Are you deaf as well as blind?"

"My eyesight is not that bad!"

"You can't see a single thing,"

She rolled her eyes and bent down to pick up the book at the same time as me causing our heads to bump and make us both fall down, laughing. Grey eyes met greenish blue ones as we caught each other's gaze.

**AURORA'S POINT OF VIEW-**  
Ponyboy and I's hands brushed as we met each other's eyes. I got a really weird feeling in my stomach when he began to lean forward slightly. Oh, God, he's going to kiss me, isn't he? Oh shut up, Aurora he doesn't even like you! Wow, I sound like a mental patient...

Suddenly, Ponyboy flicked the side of my head, "There was a gnat..." he told me

"Some South American Pleurothallid orchards are pollinated by tiny gnats and have correspondingly small flowers," I said before I was able to stop myself. Ugh, whats wrong with me?!

He paused to look at me, "Um...cool,"

"Hey Ponyboy!" I heard the most irritating voice come from behind me. Angela Shepard. Great. She's got a huge crush on Ponyboy and doesn't try to hide it. She makes it so obvious, but Ponyboy is so naïve that he hasn't even caught on yet and it really bothers me. If he knew then he could turn her down and she would just go away already.

"Hey Angela," Pony said to her

"So...I was wondering if you could walk me home," she asked, blinking her eyelashes incredibly fast.  
He stuttered and pulled his hand off the book and I immediantly missed the warmth.

"Um..." he replied. God, how is it physically possible for eyelashes to move that fast? Just then I saw Johnny walking down the bleacher steps towards us.

"Guys, Two-Bit's waiting out front to drive us home," he stated  
Thank goodness for Johnny!

* * *

**We kind of wrote some boys from our school into the story, but you'll see why soon enough.**


	18. Chapter 18: Mistletoes and First Kisses

**There are some major plot twists headed your way...**

* * *

**TWO MONTHS LATER**

**PONYBOY'S POINT OF VIEW**

It was Christmas. White snow covered the ground underfoot, and multi-colored lights were strung inside and outside of everyone's house. Buck decided to have a party at his place on Christmas Eve, and because it was Christmas Eve, Darry let me attend this one. It took Steve a bit more convincing to allow Aurora to come, but in the end he gave in. Sometimes it's hard to believe that Steve is more protective of Rory than Darry is of me.

Our gang plus Aurora, though I guess she was part of the gang now, made our merry way across the neighborhood towards the party. We were all bundled in the warmest clothes we had. For most of us, the warmest clothes we had were leather jackets, but Aurora had on a thick coat that looked very expensive. But it also looked very nice. Another Christmas gift from her friend in Portland, I assume.

Soda scooped up a handful of snow and threw it in my direction. Fortunate for me, the snow was too fresh to stay compact, and it fell short, covering Johnny in snow.

The gang laughed.

"Oh, sorry Johnnycakes," Soda said, grinning at the snow-covered boy.

Two-Bit began to whistle Jingle Bells, and slowly we all joined in. We ran the rest of the way to Buck's, the happiest we had been since before Bob's death.

We raced up the steps to Buck's and in through the door. I only briefly saw the inside of the house when Johnny and I came to see Dally that awful night, but I could tell by the look on Dally's face that it was a lot different than it normally looked. There was a huge tree in the corner laden with ornaments and some gifts underneath and surrounding that general area.

"Hey," said Buck, "you guys made it,"

I looked around the room. This place surely wasn't as crowded as it usually was, probably because everyone was with their families tonight. Angela, Tim, and Curly were all there as well as Kieran- my friend from track. Diana from the bookstore would be coming at some point too. Aurora and I figured out that Diana was actually Bob's cousin and once we were able to convince her that we were good people, she was fine around us. Although, I don't think that her and Aurora are going to be having sleepovers anytime soon.

As we walked through the door, I suddenly saw Angela practically shove her tongue down Keiran's throat.

"Ugh, what the heck?" Aurora said, rather disgusted.

Angela rolled her eyes, "Oh grow up, Aurora. It's mistletoe,"

I looked over at Keiran and saw him trying to, as best as possible, hide the fact that he was wiping all remains of Angela his mouth. It was hard not to laugh at the look on his face that he was trying ever so hard to conceal. He was a year older than me, but he still hasn't liked any girls yet. Maybe he was just a bit of a late bloomer, like me. I was almost fifteen before I had my first crush. It was about a month ago I realized that I liked Aurora, or rather, Rory, as she let me call her-an honor only previously to held to her mother, father, and Steve.

Rory took off her big coat to reveal a dark red dresses with dark green tights underneath that matched with the ribbons in her hair. She really got into the spirit of thing, but thats just what Aurora does. I'm telling ya'...red is definitely her color...

I sure am glad that Cherry and Marcia don't hang with us anymore. At one point, I thought that we were friends, but I was wrong and I see that now.

I shuffled over to a table in the corner by the tree where the food was laid out. I wasn't hungry, but I wanted to find someone to talk with. I glanced over at Aurora, who was talking with Will who had just arrived. After a moment she met my gaze and smiled at me. I smiled back, but she looked away and continued talking with the upperclassmen.

I walked through the kitchen and into a second kind of living room, it was a lot less crowded, only Darry and Buck occupied the room. It was a fairly large room with fairly nice furniture. A wall of books was kept to one side. The wall of books was so unlike Buck, that I had to wonder if the house was actually his. As I ran my finger along the books, I realized that most of them were textbooks and books read for school. The only reason Buck probably still had them was to impress girls with his "literary" side.

Picking up a senior-level textbook, I sat in an armchair and began to read the development of the U.S. government. Even though it wasn't my usual interest, it was half-interesting when I was more than half-bored.

After a while, I looked up. Everyone had a beer in tow. I hadn't even noticed people coming in the room. It had gotten completely dark outside, and the lights glowed brighter than ever. I was glad that there were very few people here compared to how is normally is- it just made it feel more like Christmas that way. All of these people were my friends in some way or another. Diana, Will, Kieran, Johnny, Two-Bit, Dally, Steve, Sodapop, Darry, Buck, Tim, Curly, Angela and Aurora. That's all I needed tonight.

I stood, stretched, and made my way to the wall. I studied the ceiling and the stairs and the photographs that were hanging. I noticed a cluster of mistletoe that hung over the back door. It wasn't the same one I had been by before, but I figured Buck had hung them all over. Aurora was still in a conversation with Will

Maybe this mistletoe wasn't such a bad idea after all. I'm way too scared to kiss Rory because there's the awful factor to take into account-she might not like me back. I couldn't live with myself if I kissed her and she rejected me. Imagine having to see her after that. But, if I were to "accidently" get caught under the mistletoe with her then we would have to kiss. This may seem wrong, but I'm a teenage boy who's never kissed a girl before and the opportunity to do so with my crush has presented itself. Cut me some slack here.

"Hey, Pony," said Kieran, crossing over to me

I nodded to him, "Hey, man. What's up?"

Kieran shrugged, "Nothing much...so why are you waiting over by the mistletoe?" he asked in a sing-songy voice, "Waiting for a certain curly haired brunette to walk by?"

"Ah, shut it, man. I haven't said anything to her about it or anyone one for that matter." I replied, "It's just too nerve wracking to say something. I mean, what if she doesn't like me back?"

He chuckled, "Oh God...you two are so clueless," before going over to talk to Sodapop and Steve. Now I was standing alone.

After a few minutes of standing against the wall trying my hardest to appear casual, I saw Rory excuse herself from the conversation and move towards to hallway. Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, I moved towards the hallway. But before I was able to get under the doorway, Dally came down the other other side of the hall and bumped into her.

"Sorry, Dally," she said

Dallas cleared his throat and looked up, "Um..."

Angela looked over and squealed, "Guys, look! Dallas and Aurora got caught under the mistletoe," Everyone at the party stopped what they were doing to look over and watch the kiss. Steve stared directly at Dally and dragged his finger across his neck. The message was clear: you touch her, you die.

Aurora's ears were bright red with embarrassment as she stood on her tippy-toes to reach up to Dally. I watched in horror as she grabbed the front of his shirt and pressed her lips to his. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Someone let out a low whistle and the two of them separated. Oh...my...God...What the hell just happened? So, it's official. Aurora has no feelings for me.

Rory continued down the hall and Dally walked over to get some punch. The vein in Steve's neck was bulging with anger, so Sodapop handed him another beer and took him outside to cool down.

Going to cool down was probably a good idea, so I decided to go out on the front porch. I started to walk down the hallway when the music stopped and I felt everyone's eyes on my back. I turned around to find everyone was looking at me with wide eyes and open mouths.

"What?" I asked. I heard someone next to me laugh really loudly and I turned to see Two-Bit standing there. "Two-Bit, do you mind? You smell like beer,"

Then I realized where we were standing, "Oh no," I said

He nodded, "Give Two a kiss," he was really drunk

"No," I said, shaking my head furiously, "No way,"

"Do it!" I heard Angela shout

Before I knew what was happening, Two-Bit and I were kissing. To be honest, I'm not really sure if this kiss was good or not considering I have nothing to compare it to. The taste of alcohol on his lips was intense and the lack of air made me feel dizzy.

Darry grabbed Two-Bit and pulled him away from me. He chugged the rest of his beer before stumbling onto the couch and passing out. Sodapop and Steve came into the room at the same time as Aurora.

"What did I miss...?" she asked. Everyone was too shocked to respond and an even more awkward silence ensued.

My first kiss was with a very drunk Two-Bit Matthews.

Damn it.


	19. Chapter 19: Christmas Morning

**AURORA'S POINT OF VIEW**

Christmas is probably my absolute favorite time of the year. Spending time with my family and, this year, my new friends. The gang's got this tradition where they all pitch in to buy one another gifts. For example, we all split the cost and bought Johnny a new jean jacket. He's been in desperate need of a new one because in October he somehow managed to get a huge tear down the side after getting it caught in the fence at the drive-in.

I've recently been trying to push Steve's buttons, but I'm not too sure why. He hasn't been as irritating as I know he can be, it's just that he's acting way too overprotective. Steve has always sort of been like this and I just hate it. Why can't he understand that it's not his job to protect me? What's there to protect me from? Boys? That idiot doesn't know the first thing about me and my life.

I rolled over and looked at the clock. It was around 8:15 in the morning and there were strict instructions to be over at the Curtis house by 9:30. I threw on my robe and walked down the stairs from the attic, which doubles as my bedroom.

Steve came walked out of his room and gave me a hug, "Hey Rors. Merry Christmas,"

I smiled at him, "You too,"

He may be an annoying prick all the other days of the year, but today was special and there were certain unspoken rules about how to treat your family on Christmas. I better soak it up while I can because tomorrow he'll be back to his angry self.

My parents came out of their room and my step-dad tousled my hair, "Morning kiddo,"

"Morning Dad," I said, relishing in the fact that Steve didn't glare at me like he usually does whenever I address Charles as "Dad".

About two years ago, my mom got remarried to Charles after my real dad walked out on us. He was a jerk to Steve and I, real hard on Steve especially. My mom and him got married around six months before I left for the internship and Steve had really hard time with me leaving, but I'm not too sure why. He went to live at the Curtis house and basically abandoned Mom in her time of need, which is something that I've never really been able to forgive him for. I almost stayed behind, but Mom wouldn't let me. I guess the rest is history. Charles is the best father I could possibly ask for.

After the exchange of presents, Steve and I threw on some clothes and headed over to the Curtis house. The snow was falling outside and left little white snowflakes on us. Steve wasn't paying attention, which is the perfect time to attack him. That way, he'll be completely oblivious to it and disoriented. It gives you time to run away.

I picked up a handful of snow with my gloved fingers and made it into a sphere shape. In other words, I made a snowball.

"INCOMING!" Steve shouted as a huge pile of snow hit the back of my head, knocking me to the ground.

That idiot messed with the wrong person, "You're dead, Stevie," I shouted towards him

"If only that were true,"

I got up from the floor and raced towards him, jumping on his back attempting to tackle him to the ground. My lack of muscle or body weight in general prevented me from properly taking out my revenge on my brother. Great. I really need to join a gym sometime. Maybe eat a couple hundred steaks while I'm at it.

Steve grabbed my torso and spun me around on his back so that the back of my head was against his ribs and my knees were slung over his shoulder.

"Stevie, put me down!" I yelled, trying to kick his head to no avail.

"Nope," he responded.

I continued to squirm all the way to the Curtis's living room where he dropped me on the couch.

"Hey Steve, Aurora," said Johnny

"Hiya Johnnycakes," Steve replied, already digging into a piece of chocolate cake.

"Pig," I muttered in Steve's direction

The whole gang was here, all except for Ponyboy. The house was covered from head to toe in sparking Christmas lights of all colors, which is probably a massive safety violation and fire hazard, but I'm not one to bring down the party. I'm just saying, their social worker would not approve.

"Where's Pony?" I asked them

"Still sleeping," Darry replied

"Still?" I questioned. I know that Pony sleeps in late a lot because it usually causes us to almost be late to school, but it's Christmas and almost 10:00.

Soda nodded, "Yeah...he's been having really bad nightmares all night,"

Again? "But I thought that's why you sleep in his bed with him,"

"He didn't want me to last night, but I'm not sure why. After the party, he was acting really weird." Sodapop informed me

Everyone was silent for a moment, avoiding eye contact except for Soda and Steve who looked just as confused as me. Two-Bit's face was bright red. What was happening?

"I was drunk, okay. I'm not-" Two-Bit began

"We know," Darry cut him off

Steve looked at everyone, "What the heck are you guys talking about?"

Johnny shook his head, "I don't think Pony would want everyone to know,"

"I don't even want to know," Dallas began, "Trust me, it's better not knowing what happened."

What the heck are they talking about?

* * *

**PONYBOY'S POINT OF VIEW**

After Two-Bit kissed me and then proceeded to pass out, I went up to one of the bedrooms to lay down for a bit. Luckily, Rory hadn't been in the room at the time and neither had Steve, so if I talked to the guys then there is practically no way for her to find out.

Eventually, I fell asleep and when I woke up I was being carried on Darry's back. Sodapop and Steve were helping a disoriented Two-Bit walk down the street, Rory and Johnny were huddled together, and I think that Dally must have stayed back at Buck's for a little longer because he wasn't there.

When we got home, Darry put me down in my bed and Soda came in a few minutes later. It occurred to me that he wasn't there when I got caught under the mistletoe and it wasn't something that I was comfortable talking about quite yet.

"Please go away," I mumbled

"Huh?" asked Soda

I looked down at the skin I was currently peeling off my fingers,"I want to be alone tonight,"

"Will you be okay?"

"Yes, I'll be fine,"

I woke up three times last night, screaming. Other times, I would just lay there awake. I was having tons of nightmares about Mom and Dad, their car crash. It was all my fault. They were going out to get me a new fishing pole for my birthday when they got in the accident. Then I started having dreams about the kiss, which were even worse in a way. I kept on thinking about Aurora and if she had been a boy. Would I still like her? The strange part is that I think I would. Every time I woke up Soda would come running in from his room with Darry close behind, but every time I would ask them to leave.

In the morning I woke up when I heard Steve and Rory come in. Soon after, Darry and Sodapop bolted into my room and scooped me out of the bed.

"Time to wake up!" Soda shouted and pulled back the covers before bursting out in laughter, "Why do you only have on your boxers?"

"It was really hot last night," I told him. The dreams had me waking up in a cold sweat.

Sodapop's smile faltered a little, but he regained composure. "Now, Darry," he said in a mocking tone, "What do we do with this poor boy?"

Darry replied in the same sort of voice, "Why, I reckon we're going to have to take him to the living room half dressed,"

"I think we ought to,"

Before I could respond, Darry had me slung over his shoulder like a rag doll. I grabbed onto the doorframe in an effort to keep them from taking me out there in only my boxers. My pleas were useless in swaying my brothers' decision.

"Come on guys! Rory is out there. She's a girl." I told me

Soda replied with his classic grin, "I'm sure she'll like it just fine,"

When the three of us got into the living room, Darry practically threw me onto the couch next to Aurora, which everyone found hilarious. Everyone, but Steve who was sending some definite daggers my way that I tried to ignore as best I could.

"Let's open up some presents!" Two-Bit exclaimed


End file.
